What grade would Sun Tsu have awarded Prabaharan? –

If the legendary Sun Tzu (circa 400BC) author of that iconic work, the Art of War, was a rating agency like Standard & Poor’s, the only triple-A ratings he would have handed out are Alexander, Caesar and Genghis; in comparison even Hannibal and Bonaparte would have to settle for AA, though dozens of others have earned an A. America’s greatest soldier was Confederate general Robert E Lee who qualifies for no more than a B+ because of the unmitigated and unwarranted cock-up he made at Gettysburg. In the Twentieth Century’s WWI and WWII there were generals illustrious enough for posterity to frame as icons; but afterwards, Nguyen Giap, an ardent disciple of Sun Tze, did earn himself an A, but no higher as his territorial demesne was small, not continental. Actually Giap did not win a single major battle against a vastly superior enemy, but he won the ultimate prize! He would have done the Master proud.

To descend from the sublime to the ridiculous, where does Vellupillai Prabaharan stand as a military-political leader on the world stage? It is an interesting question since despite his eventual defeat he was our most notable military chieftain since Sitawaka Rajasinghe. Rajasinghe, of course, was much VP’s superior, but I don’t see anyone of that class in between. (I exclude Rajasinghe II because after Gannoruwa, his big victory – like Prabaharan’s Elephant Pass – all his schemes, in alliance with the Dutch, to expel the Portuguese from the island misfired and the Dutch dug themselves in securely for 150 years).

More important, however, is that I chose my words carefully when I said “military-political leader” (Sun Tzu would reverse the order). War is a mere subset of politics and prize fighters without brains don’t get far. This point has been made by latter day strategic thinkers as well; Machiavelli who did not know of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz who may have read him. Allow me to add, that in stature, allowing for the passage of time, neither was his peer. The Art of War is about strategy in the broadest sense; it is used as a text in military academies like West Point and is compulsory reading for corporate CEOs – and for presidents and prime ministers as well, but only the successful ones.

The missing history

The number of scholarly, magazine, cyber and newspaper articles on the social, political and constitutional aspects of Lanka’s ethnic imbroglio is enough to fill a barnyard. Still there has been no systematic military history of the civil war per se. This is surprising given its crucial historical importance. Furthermore, the entirely unforeseen and perhaps unprecedented ending makes it a unique event that should attract scholars of politico-military history. This week marks the first anniversary of the destruction of the LTTE after 30 years of warfare. I do hope someone with multifaceted expertise will undertake to have a well researched politico-military volume on Yapa’s shelves in time for the second anniversary.

In this piece I will set myself only a little task; evaluating Prabaharan’s place against the great canvas that Sun Tzu fashioned for artful war. Let us evaluate him against some of the principles and axioms in the Art of War.

Sun Tzu says: So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.

Prabaharan measured up well against this principle during first 20 years of his campaign, in fact very well indeed during the period of guerrilla war and the early period of conventional warfare up to and including the capture of Elephant Pass. Up to that time the faithful called him a military genius. However, in the latter stages he neither knew himself nor understood his enemy. He did not grasp the significance of the internal virus leading to the Karuna split, nor could he prevent it, fatally weakening the LTTE. Secondly, his forces, having turned conventional, forever lost the flexibility to revert to the guerrilla mode.

He did not appreciate that his enemy had immensely improved its land, air and sea firepower, troop morale and training and that he was absolutely outgunned in the conventional mode. He did not appreciate that the Rajapaksa regime had put all its eggs in the war basket, had massaged India, and had sidelined the international community. Nevertheless, VP had twenty good years and less than ten bad ones, so I guess the Master would be generous and concede a B-minus on this item.

Sun Tzu says: The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim; therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.

This refers to technical aspects of warfare and Sun Tzu will not hesitate to award an A+ grade, particularly as the enemy was far more numerous, better armed and commanded all the accoutrements of state power. Technically, Prabaharan was indeed an able and innovative military leader. Don’t forget the huge human capital and technological advances he built around the LTTE; even today the army continues to unearth finds that amazes it.

Sun Tzu says: All warfare is based on deception; never will those who wage war tire of deception.

This is about infiltration, intelligence gathering and spying, and effectively using the information so gathered. The Master will not hesitate to award VP and LTTE the highest grade for success on the espionage item as well.

Sun Tzu says: The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move. He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.

These principles Prabaharan violated repeatedly such as assassinating Rajiv Gandhi, allowing the LTTE to be internationally ostracised as a terrorist and bandit outfit, and eventually globally proscribed. This one is an F for sure.

The moral questions

The political and moral questions are the harder ones. For Sun Tzu, strategist par excellence, neither winning battles, nor winning wars, but the final political victory was the ultimate goal. How does VP rate on these several counts? Let us see.

Sun Tzu says: Therefore one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skilful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skilful.

What Sun Tzu is saying here is his most important principle. The whole takes precedence over the parts; the political over the military; strategy must be broad and general and in modern times we must add the international dimension within the political and military dimensions. I feel like giving VP an F on this count, but the great Master will be more balanced in his judgement. VP did manoeuvre fairly well politically, though admittedly, it was merely manoeuvre without giving precedence to the political dimension. On the international side too he worked the diaspora well and milked it for plenty of cash. Sun Tzu will balance everything and mark him down to a C but not an F, I think.

Sun Tzu says: There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

Once again a profoundly significant observation; war is evil and it is justified only under the most extreme situations. Let us grant for argument’s sake that the Tamil liberation movement was justified in taking to arms since the ideology and practices of Sinhala people and state were such that they could never gain their liberty except through the force of arms. Still the question remains; did not the LTTE prolong war for longer than its own people could bear? The answer to this question has to be ‘yes’. The second question is; did war become an end in itself at least to the extent that the LTTE was not interested in a negotiated settlement short of its ultimate prize of a separate state? The jury is out and will stay out for as long as this matter is discussed. Which side is guilty of scuttling a fair and reasonable peace? Sun Tzu is likely to grant the ambiguity in these issues and mark a B on the LTTE’s answer book.

Sun Tzu says: The cardinal factors are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Environment (rain, day-night, etc); (3) Terrain and location; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

I will touch on the first only; the others are technical. Whatever moral authority the Tamil liberation movement started off with, the LTTE lost the moral high ground after about the first decade. After 1983 the Tamil struggle did hold the moral high ground in the wake of ethnic riots and unabated state terrorism. When the LTTE too adopted terrorism (murdering civilians, women, children), and assassinating Tamil political leaders and all who spoke against it, VP lost the plot and Tamil youth ceased to “follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger”.

It is at this point that the Master would have sighed, drawn up his paper and scrawled either B-minus or C-plus across the top of the page, and I would agree. VP was not a disciple of the Master, he could not be, since then he would have had to give the political-whole priority over the military-particular; but that would have made him a different person.

Use these principles and award your own grading – write in to the Editor, why not? Like an honourable school master, mark the performance, not your own likes and dislikes!

About this Blog

This blog concerns the Sri Lankans fight against LTTE terrorism.LTTE is a ruthless terror outfit which fights for an ethnically pure, separate Tamil homeland for Tamils living in Sri Lanka since 1983. The outfit is well known for its extreme tribalism and nefarious crimes against soft targets specially the women and children. During its two and half decade long terrorist war against Sri Lankan people, LTTE has killed over 70,000 people mostly civilians in its ethnic cleansing raids, indiscriminate bomb attacks, suicide blasts, etc. LTTE is also in top of the UN's list of shame for using child soldiers in war. As a tactical measure the outfit uses only young female cadres and male child soldiers for the front lines.

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Calander

The Eelam bubble

The Tamil diaspora still talk of winning the "Eelam" war, of seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel of a mythical Tamil state" , even as six elite army divisions strategically lay siege to the Wanni heartland. As it is there is a light, that of a fast-approaching express train that would steam roll the "Eealm" myth to the sun baked Wanni floor forever.

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Their sacrifice will not be in vain….

"I am a Sri Lankan and I am free today because someone fought, bled or died in my place. I vow that as long as there is breath in my body that that their sacrifice will not be in vain."

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Smell Of Victory

Smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing in the world smells like that.I love the smell of napalm in the morning.One time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one enemy body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end.
Apocalypse Now(1979)

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Give to those who have given

They died for something that may be trivial to many. A piece of high ground on a salty sand dune, or a landing area in a landmine filled beach, or simply protecting a cadjan bunker in some remote corner of the island.
But when dusk settles on this protracted war, every sacrifice these thousands made will have a reason and purpose.
We should pay tribute to all our fallen heroes who gave their today for our tomorrow.

We are pleased to announce that our new website,www.slguardian.org, is live and ready for the world to view. We have completely redesigned our layout with simplicity, ease of use, and accessibility in mind. It will be a tool for both fulfilling our mission and helping us provide better resources to our readers.This new website will keep pace with our rapidly […]

| by Aboobacker Rameez( January 23, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is heartening to see a suitably qualified person being appointed as the Minister of Education. It is even more heartening to see the Minister, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinghe, attempting to introduce much needed reforms to the universities. One of the other important aspects that has credibly […]

| The following statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission ( January 23, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The 100-day reform programme of the new government is an opportune moment for rebuilding the legal structure of Sri Lanka, a precondition for achieving the “good governance” that has been promised.The legal structure of Sri Lanka has suffere […]

| by N.S.Venkataraman ( January 23, 2015, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Several decades back, Karl Marx gave strong call to the workers that “you have nothing to lose except the chain”. This call of Karl Marx resounded across the world, as it was then appropriate to the issues and problems faced by the blue collar workmen. It resulted in the development of ve […]

| by S. Chandrasekharan( January 23, 2015, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) As expected the dead line of Jan 22, 2015 for the promulgation of a new constitution is being missed. The political parties refused to compromise and made little headway in drafting a new constitution. One whole year was wasted.Too late in the day and very close to the deadline the eig […]

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara“Is it always the same SpringWho reprises her role forever?”Neruda (The Book of Questions)( January 22, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Why were the police slower than slow in acting against marauding Parliamentarian Palitha Thevarapperuma? Wasn’t this tardiness due to the fact that the alleged miscreant is on the governing side? […]

| by Kuldip NayarFormer Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not regret the blood bath that the Sri Lankan Army indulged in even after the LTTE surrendered( January 21, 2015, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) New Delhi had lots to explain when Mahinda Rajpaksa was re-elected as Sri Lanka’s President for the second time. India had supplied him small arms w […]

How the U.S. Can Help Sri Lanka Turn the Corner—with a targeted war crimes prosecution| by Ryan Goodman( janaury 21, 2015, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Obama administration helped catalyze the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to bring accountability in Sri Lanka for mass war crimes committed in that country’s civil war. In a New York Times Op-Ed, I […]

| by Ranil Wicramasinghe ( January 21, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “Throughout the previous government, the judicial powers of the country was misused by the political interests. Even after war got over, the law of the country was not properly established,” Prime Minister appointed Mr. Ranil Wicramasinghe noted in a statement. “We are in the process o […]

| by Noam Chomsky( January 21, 2015, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) After the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, which killed 12 people including the editor and four other cartoonists, and the murder of four Jews at a kosher supermarket shortly after, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared "a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Is […]

Swift, Silent & Deadly

Fear The LRRP

The LRRP has been very successful in covert operations against the LTTE terrorists in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Its members were so successful in assassinating key LTTE figures that many LTTE leaders refused to come out of their jungle bunkers before the 2002 ceasefire was implemented. After the resumption of hostilities, it is believed that the LRRP units conducted operations in the LTTE held northern province too.
The LTTE has accused the Sri Lankan Deep Penetration Units of launching attacks on LTTE leaders in their areas, although the Sri Lankan Government denies any involvement in these attacks. The teams have had success against LTTE leaders such as military intelligence leader Colonel Charls and many leaders. Other success have included observing LTTE training camps and calling in air strikes. The LRRP's successes and dedicated operators have garnered a fearful reputation among the LTTE.
The SL Army commander Gen.Sarath Fonseka had recently acknowledged that LRRP units were used to beat the LTTE at their own game.It was later revealed that LTTE, who were masters at jungle warfare refused to engage in combat and withdrew from their positions instead of holding their ground because of these elite soldiers. SL LRRP unit falls under SF3 (Special Forces 3rd Regiment)they and SF1,SF2,SF4 & Commandos played a vital role in eliminating the LTTE including V.Piribaharan a.k.a Sun God a.k.a Supreme Commander of the LTTE. LTTE according to FBI is was the most dangerous terrorist group in the world.

Things you didn’t do

Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it?

I thought you'd kill me but you didn't.

And remember the time I dragged you to the beach and you said it would rain and it did?

I thought you'd say, "I told you so", but you didn't.

Do you remember the time I flirted with all the guys to make you jealous and you were.

I thought you'd leave me, but you didn't.

Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over your car rug.

I thought you'd hit me but you didn't.

And remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans?

I thought you'd drop me. But you didn't.

Yes, there were lots of things you didn't do.

But you put up with me and you loved me and you protected me.

There were lots of thing I wanted to make up to you when you returned from War.

But you didn't.

Meta

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President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the IGP and Chiefs of Security Forces to arrest all those who incited racism. At the Security Council meeting where these instructions were given, Minister Mano Ganeshan, it is reported, had drawn the attention of the President to a statement made by a bikkhu in Batticaloa which, he claims, hurt the Tamil people […]

Fidel Castro is no more. He died today at the age of 90. Whether he is hero or villain, he certainly is historic. This cannot be disputed. The following article was published in the Sunday Island o December 12, 2000. It was one of the earliest articles I wrote for that newspaper. That Latin America bleeds is not news. In fact, blood-letting seems to be […]

What does a cartoonist have in common with a soccer player? Deftness, certainly. An eye for line and space. Innovation. Not all soccer players can draw and not all artists can dribble a football. Kurukulasuriya Eligious Camillus Perera could do both. He’s long since hung up his boots, but his brushes are still fresh, as is his wit, political acumen an […]

noreply@blogger.com (Malinda Seneviratne)

Silent Heros – The LRRPs’

"Stealth, bravery and a commitment to duty, these were the attributes of the men of the Sri Lankas' Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs). Going deep inside LTTE held enemy lines, danger was their watchwood & Military Skills was their only protection."

Victory Day : Lest We Forget

It was on the night of the 19th of May and dawn of 20th 2009 that Sri Lankan rid itself completely of the plague known as Tamil terrorism and became a country where there is freedom of movement for all.

Let us remember those that gave their lives to make this a reality and remember all the misguided LTTE youth who died in vain with compassion.

I had left for Jordan the day after my father’s 93rd birthday, on June 27th. He had had a party as usual, and all the reception rooms downstairs, the dining room and the rectangular verandah in front, and the large drawing room with its extensions, the round verandah giving on to the garden and the […]

The third country I visited in June 2014, in that period of quietude when nothing was moving in Sri Lanka except for an increasing sense of decline, was Jordan. I did not count it as a new country, for I had stayed overnight there in a hotel, when I was traveling to Turkey early in […]

Oddly enough, as my father was fading, the world of my other great rock in these last years, Ena, also shrank. In 2012 we had celebrated her 90th birthday in Yala, quite a large crowd though initially she had told me that she wanted only me and Shanthi Wilson. Of course she could not have […]

In retrospect it is clear that there was no hope of stopping Mahinda Rajapaksa rushing headlong into disaster, given that so many of those around him, while pursuing their own agendas, had lulled him into a false sense of security. But it still seemed necessary to try, and I did have at least one significant […]

In the month after my extended 60th birthday celebrations, I travelled extensively. This was not however to any new countries, so I remained stuck on 89 for a few months more. But I was able to get to fascinating places in countries I had been to previously. In India this was to the North East, […]

After those idyllic few days with my father at my cottage, I went to Algeria, determined to see more of the Roman remains of Africa, and if possible get to the deep desert. Years earlier I had bought guidebooks for Tunisia and Libya, which had better sites, and I had managed to get to Tunisia […]

From the start it was clear that 2014 would be a bleak year. My father was much weaker than before, and had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. We knew that this was a slow process and the doctors said there was no need for any interventions since old age was likely to do for him […]

After Ethiopia, I felt I should see the Sudan, not only in search of other aspects of the Nile, but also because I realized that it was the repository of many splendours from the Egyptian Empires. The pyramidic culture had extended far to the South, and then so had Hellenistic civilization, following the conquest of […]

Much of this series has been about my personal travels, and the slow but steady dissolution of the world I had known. To dwell only on these would however give a misleading impression of what occupied me most during the years from 2012, when I began to realize that my efforts to promote reform were […]

With Lakmahal slowly folding up as it were, and the country in decline, my principal solace in 2014 was travel. Asia and Europe I knew well, and I had been to enough of South America to feel I had seen enough of it for the moment. The Middle East too I had seen a fair […]

rajivawijesinha

Nineteen ’til I Die

"Last night it rained. And I stood under my parents’ porch and smoked. The deluge of water on the tin sheeting drowned out everything — traffic, the neighbours, the sound of the TV. Just me and the rain and the dark, like it had been on that first night in December 1990. I stepped out from the porch, and the rain put out my cigarette in an instant. I spat away the shreds of tobacco and let the rain soak me. Remembering them, as I have done a hundred thousand times in the last eighteen years.

I can remember the ridged steel flooring of the Y-8′s cargo bay like it was yesterday, digging into my arse as I sit packed in with my platoon, flying to Palay.

I remember the smell of wet sandbags on that first night on the FDL at Elephant Pass. Looking out into the black ink beyond the perimeter. Here be Tigers.

And the ten-man patrols through knee-deep water, trying to be quiet. “Kata vahapang, huththo,“

The hot, dusty days and wet, rainy nights. Mosquitoes. And being tired. So tired. Every day. All the time.

And contact. Finally. What we’d lived for, longed for, suffered for. What we’d watched in movies and read about in books. Contact. Sex for virgins. With red tracers. And the elephant sitting on my back, squeezing the breath out of my lungs as I tried to hold my rifle steady. The hammer roar of 7.62-mm fire, gunflashes blurring the distant, running figures.

None of us were over twenty, most eighteen or nineteen. Ariyaratne, the section commander, and Dias, the machine-gunner; our parents, old men of twenty-four. Combat veterans of the Sinha Rifles. The hard core.

And the killing. I remember every single one. The blood, the eyes. The smell. I remember Rohantha getting hit by the .50. I remember the sixteen-year-old bayoneted girl with the long plaited hair come loose. I remember kneeling at a tube well and washing the crusted blood out from under my finger nails.

Down time. Sitting in abandoned tin buildings in the Saltern Siding. We’d strip down to OG shorts and slippers and our Death By Bullets T-shirts. We never talked about victory, about killing Prabha, or defeating the Tigers. Our personal goals were to survive, to do well, to not let each other or our regiment down. Sura talking about the XT-250 he wanted to buy. Husni and Sanjeeva talking about girls. Dias and I cleaning guns and talking about optics.

I thought I knew them all very well, but now I realize I didn’t really. And now, sadly, I can’t recall their faces in detail. And sometimes I have to think hard to remember all nine names.

Well, it looks like it’s over now. And I wish those guys were here to see it. I wish we could all go out for a drink and talk about EPS and catch up on our lives. But it’s too late for all that. It all took too long. I wish they were all in their thirties, like me. Maybe they’d have wives, and children, or not. I wish they could walk down the road and be offered kiri bath by the trishaw drivers. I wish they were alive."